Prenuptial Agreements: Why is it more relevant today?

If you’re someone who’s planning to get married soon, the thought of getting a prenup might have crossed your mind once or twice, but why would you, right?

Prenuptial agreements – legal documents that state how a couple’s assets and possessions will be divided in case of a divorce – aren’t really necessary, especially if you know the law and are satisfied with their terms. But coming up with a prenup doesn’t easily equate to being a non-romantic, it just means that you’re someone who is careful about your future, and takes into account the possibility that all relationships come to an end, even if we didn’t want it to.

It’s not bad to plan for the future, especially if you own properties, stocks, have children, or would be spending for the family, such as education. Let me show you what I mean.

The Up and Down Sides of a Prenup

Let’s start with the upsides:

It could help identify who gets what, for example, a business you already have before entering the relationship

It can be crafted according to your preference and situation, but of course, it could only cover those that are within the law

It could protect you from each other’s individual debts that may pile up before or during the course of your marriage, such as student loans

It could save you more time in the future, because negotiations regarding properties would no longer occur given that they are already stated in the prenup

It can help you prepare for the worst possible consequence a divorce could give you based on your own previous experiences

However, it also has its downsides:

It could make you look like you don’t trust your relationship to last and that you’re open to the possibility of separation or divorce, even if you’re just doing this for practical reasons

It may be unnecessary given that most laws already cover the issues that are contained in usual prenups, and getting it would just be additional expense

Just by looking at this list, you could already see that the pros outweigh the cons. If you really want to do a prenup, encouraging your partner to get one would be easier now that you know the up and downsides of it. Add to that, the fact that both of you would contribute to what will only benefit you in the future.

So go get yourself a lawyer and start crafting your prenup before you get married!

Mr. Hutton is a Divorce and Custody Lawyer based out of Round Rock, TX. His background is with child psychology at Arizona State University where he received a B.S. in 2006, and he continued this by working with the Children’s Right’s Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law where he received his J.D. in 2009. Throughout his practice, he has been a strong proponent of utilizing modern technology to improve his practice and the representation of his clients. He currently is the technology chair of CAFA of Travis County and is committed to improving and modernizing the practice of law in Texas.